Committee to Consider High School Consolidation and Alternative Scenarios

Committee to Consider High School Consolidation and Alternative Scenarios

Meeting Materials

Agendas, minutes, presentations, background materials, and video of each meeting of the Consolidation Committee will be posted here. All meetings of the committee are open to the public.

Members

Mia Bonta

Richard Bunker

Kelly Hartlaub Gregor

Cameron Furuichi Fong

Jyosna Jaslow

Dorothy Jones

Chuck Kapelke

Akiko Kelley

Denise Langowski

Marva Lyons

Cheryl Lua

Melody Ma

Liza Gabato Morse

Sofía Orduña

Ron Parodi

Melanie Shannon

Kathy Lamb-Tansey

Bill Withrow

Serena Woon

Cindy Zecher

How to Get Involved

All meetings of the Committee to Consider High School Consolidation are open to the public, and the public is encouraged to attend to hear the presentations, learn about the process, and follow the conversations of the committee.

Introduction

The idea of merging Alameda High School and Encinal High School schools has been raised several times in previous decades. It came up most recently in the spring of 2018, when the Board of Education engaged the community in a review of the district's budget priorities. The goal of the budget reprioritization process was to find ways to save money, so as to increase employee salaries.

During those discussions, community members, athletic directors, and teachers asked for a new review of the idea of consolidating high schools for two reasons. First, they wanted to see if combining schools could provide cost savings that could go towards improving AUSD employee salaries. This would help employees. It would also help retain and attract excellent teachers, which, in turn, is good for students. Second, the requesters wanted to see if a consolidation might allow AUSD to provide a more comprehensive education to AUSD high school students (because one large school may be able to provide more course offerings more equitably to more students).

In May 2018, the Board directed staff to create a committee to study the issue and provide a report on what a combined high school could look like. After a three-week application period, the Board approved 15 members to the committee and asked that staff re-open the applications to students in August, so as to have more students on the committee. On August 28, the Board approved the appointment of four more students, plus a representative of CSEA 860, to the committee.

In its study of the viability and desirability of a potential merger, the committee will receive and discuss information from architects, demographers, transit and city planners, and staff from both AUSD's Teaching and Learning Department and Student Services Department. After hearing from these and other experts, the committee will consider various scenarios for merging the schools and prepare a report on those scenarios for the Board of Education. That report will be presented to the Board in January or February of 2019.

Summary of Data Presented So Far; Brainstorming of Alternative Scenarios

Note: This meeting originally was scheduled to focus on Student Support Services. That presentation has now been scheduled for the October 30, 2018. At the end of that meeting, the committee will discuss when the remaining presentations should be scheduled.

10/30/2018

Student Support Services

How would combining high schools affect special education, mental health, and healthcare services for AUSD's high school students? How might it affect school climate?

Presenter: Kirsten Zazo, Chief Student Support Officer

11/08/2018

Athletics

How would combining high schools affect athletic programs at the two high schools?

12/4/2018

Community Impacts

How would combining high schools affect transportation for students, as well as parking, driving in the city, the Park Street business area, etc.? What bike routes could students use? What other means could students use to get across town?

Presenters: Staff, Bike Walk Alameda

01/15/2019

Report Review

Facilitator: Brianna Garcia, School Services of California

All meetings are open to the public and will be held from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm at Island High School. Video of the meetings will also be posted on this page several days after each meeting.

*Tentative

Background Materials

Board of Education Presentations

April 24, 2018

"Discussion of Long-Term School Facilities Plan and Possible School Consolidation"